Trust the Most Powerful Tool Nature

Has Provided Parents

BY LINDA DOBSON

My e-mailbox overfloweth. There is no question anymore that a significant number of parents are questioning what’s going on in public schools today. More importantly, they are searching the Internet for information and resources, and reaching out to anyone they think may be able to help them in their dilemma.

Parents and Gut Feelings

Oftentimes, these parents speak about the “gut feeling” they are having that their children are stressed, bored, and not learning. The saddest part is that most question the validity and value of the “feeling,” refusing to trust one of the most powerful tools nature has provided to parents in the care and nurturing of the little ones they bring into the world.

I write this post to say one thing – trust the feelings you’re having about your child’s education. Ignore them at risk of irreparable damage happening to your child right before your eyes.

If your child is in school, speak up for him.

I know. It’s hard to make waves, especially when a teacher, counselor, or principal is your next door neighbor or your best friend’s brother-in-law. But you know what? In school your child is but one of hundreds (or, in the case of my high school, thousands) of children all being processed in the same way. Think about how incredibly easy it is for your child to slip through the cracks, forever suffering from some brief note one teacher or another once wrote in his transcript that follows him throughout his school days.

You must advocate for your child, much like the Seattle mom who wrote to her son’s teacher. The letter is printed in a post called “One Parent Acts to Protect Her Son: No Tests for Connor” at Education Week. I highly recommend you read the entire letter; it’s very compelling, and includes the teacher’s response. The gist can be summed up by this note at the end of the post:

It makes me want to cry – what we are doing to our children….

Parents ARE Questioning – You Can, Too

What we are doing to our children has made me cry more times than I can count. What I have cried about has grown worse with each passing school year since I took a long, hard look at what was happening to my son in school and decided to jump into what was then the unknown world of homeschooling.